Almost 15 gigabytes of password data, donation records and source code from artist and entertainer crowdfunding platform Patreon was published online after the site was hacked last week.
According to Ars Technica the data has been examined by security researcher Troy Hunt who concluded the files “almost certainly” came from Patreon servers.
In a statement Patreon co-founder and CEO Jack Conte confirmed that there was “unauthorized access” to registered names, email addresses, posts, shipping addresses, and some billing addresses that were added prior to 2014.
Patreon does not store full credit card numbers and while password data, social security numbers and tax information were accessed, they remain “safely encrypted”. However as a precautionary measure Conte encourages all Patreon users to update their passwords.
“I take our creators’ and patrons’ privacy very seriously,” Conte says.
“It is our team’s mission to help creators get paid for the immeasurable value they provide to all of us, and earning your trust to provide that service in a safe and secure way is Patreon’s highest priority.
“Again, I sincerely apologize for this breach, and the team and I are making every effort to prevent something like this from happening in the future.”
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Kye began his career at a Fairfax daily on the North-West Coast of Tasmania. He has since taken his belongings, and keen interest in technology, to Melbourne. He has a bachelor of Arts majoring in Political Science from the University of Tasmania and a Graduate Diploma in Journalism from RMIT University.
